"We have already stumbled into the trough of disillusionment."

Image credit: Rockstar

The usage of generative AI and LLMs is among the most controversial - and polarising - topics in game development today. Players and critics are becoming more alert to the use of such tools in games, scouring the Steam store pages of each newly-announced game to see if the tech was used during development.

Take-Two, the parent company of Grand Theft Auto 6 developer Rockstar, used to have a division dedicated to researching and exploring the ways AI, in its different forms, could help game development. That was true until April, when the company reportedly laid off that entire AI team.

The move was surprising, considering how many companies are either quietly, or outwardly embracing the implementation of generative AI in the development pipeline. But most of the people laid off weren't actually working with generative AI.

Image credit: Rockstar

The team, which started off at mobile developer Zynga before Take-Two acquired it in 2022, later had its responsibilities expanded to cover the whole of Take-Two. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Dr Luke Dicken, the team's former head, revealed that the skunkworks operation was founded in 2019, well before the 2022 public launch of ChatGPT and the subsequent rise in interest in generative AI.

"Generative AI is not something that I have ever been particularly passionate about," said Dicken. "It was something I think there's a moral obligation to see managed as best as can be, but also on the understanding that for any big corporation in 2025/2026, no generative AI is the wrong answer that will get a lot of people's backs up."

Dicken rightly pointed out that it's a polarising topic, but that "some of the excesses of genAI are so egregious that you need to make sure you're able to push back."

Image credit: Rockstar

What he's interested in seeing instead is a more holistic look at AI, not just generative AI. "Five years ago, you'd say you have an algorithm that will be really beneficial for accelerating level generation content in a mobile title," he recalled.

"Back then, people looked at us like we had two heads. Now, the hype of AI has created an environment where I could tell you that AI is going to be the thing that moves your game to quantum computing, and people will nod and say: 'Yeah, we want AI in the game'," he added.

The upside is that "it has made people more receptive to conversations about what traditional techniques could have done for them years ago. They are more inclined to believe things like that can exist."

Unfortunately, because of how overblown the hype around generative AI currently is, most people may abandon the entire field of AI research if the bubble pops.

"My worry is that generative AI is poisoning the well," he added. "I don't think there is enough sophistication and nuance to retain the traditional stuff. For LLMs, we have already stumbled into the trough of disillusionment."

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